What are AR-15 pins? Republicans George Santos, Anna Paulina Luna and Andrew Clyde slammed after Nashville School shooting

After a mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday that killed 3 children and 3 adults, Republican lawmakers like George Santos, Anna Paulina Luna, and Andrew Clyde faced the wrath of social media for sporting AR-15 pins at the House of Representatives.

Metro Nashville Police Department identified the shooter as 28-year-old Audrey Hale. She was a transgender woman who identified as a man. She entered armed with two assault-style rifles, as well as one handgun. Hale was killed after engaging with police responding to the siege. The victims have been identified as 9-year-olds Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs, and William Kinney, as well as Cynthia Peak, 61, Katherine Koonce, 60, and Mike Hill, 61.

Also Read | How Audrey Hale executed the shooting at Covenant School in Nashville: What we know so far

What are AR-15 pins?

Some Republican members of Congress have been sporting controversial new pins in the shape of miniature AR-15 rifles on their lapels. The pins are meant to represent symbols of their commitment to the Second Amendment, or in other words, the right to bear arms for the US people.

Back in February, Georgia Representative Andrew Clyde took credit for the pins over Twitter saying that he handed the pins out “to remind people of the Second Amendment of the Constitution and how important it is in preserving our liberties.” Representatives George Santos of New York and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida have also been spotted sporting the pin.

Also Read | Audrey Hale video: Footage shows Covenant School, Nashville shooting suspect drive his Honda Fit car

Former prosecutor and legal analyst Charles Coleman spoke to MSNBC following the catastrophe that unfolded on Monday as he called out the assault-style pins while criticizing GOP lawmakers’ approach to mass shootings. “I’m politicizing it just as much as those House members who decided that it was a good idea to wear AR-15 lapel pins and walk around Congress as if these things weren’t happening,” Coleman said. “Where are they right now? What’s going to be their statement? Because we don’t need another round of thoughts and prayers.”

Here are some of the other reactions on social media against the members of the GOP who chose to sport such pins.